Garrett and Gavin Middleton, juniors at Broadneck High School, earned first place in the high school’s Environmental Literacy Film Festival.

This was the second annual film festival, which was held on April 24. The event was sponsored by ClearShark H2O. Broadneck’s signature program is environmental literacy.

“Through the Broadneck High School Environmental Literacy Signature Program, our goal is to educate students on how their actions can lead to positive changes in our local areas,” said Michelle Weisgerber, the signature program facilitator at Broadneck. “By bringing awareness to local issues through film, students are able to delve into a topic that is of a personal interest.”

There were 11 films showcased at the event, and submissions were from local middle and high schools.

The Middleton brothers make videos for a variety of school activities, including the morning announcements, clubs, athletic teams and other school-wide events.

“We thought it would be a good idea to enter it and that it would be a good opportunity for us,” Gavin said.

For the festival, the brothers made a video titled “Effects of Rising Water Levels in Annapolis.” The video focuses on the issue of flooding in Annapolis.

“We decided to do Annapolis because it’s the most popular place around us, and it’s always flooding down there,” Gavin said. “We thought that would be a good idea for an environmental local problem.”

Their biggest takeaway was how much the flooding impacts store owners.

“We knew that we wanted to interview store owners to get their experiences with the flooding because they had firsthand experience,” Garrett said. “We knew that they were going to be the people most affected by it.”

In honor of winning the Environmental Literacy Film Festival, this film will be shown at the Chesapeake Film Festival in October.

“It felt really good to see our work displayed like that and be acknowledged in the way that it was,” Garrett said.

This wasn’t the brothers’ first time winning an award for their films. Earlier this year, they won a competition for their video “Get Out the Vote,” which encouraged people to vote in the midterm elections.

“We’ve basically been interested in it for our whole lives. We grew up making little skits and stuff like that,” Garrett said. “We made a lot of different YouTube videos when we were younger, and it evolved into what we’re doing now.”

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Larry Sells

Chief Operating Officer

Larry Sells has lived in Millersville in Shipley’s Choice with his wife, Robin, and five children for 32 years and has been involved in a number of community organizations. He serves on the board for the Severna Park Community Center and the Greater Severna Park Athletic Association, and he is the Shop Local chairman for the Greater Severna Park Arnold Chamber of Commerce. Larry also cofounded with Michael Hall, owner of Severna Park Lanes, the Strike-Out Cancer fundraiser event, which has generated more than $31,000 for the benefit of Fight CRC Organization.